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In 1971, James Peebles stood atop a lab table in a lecture hall at Princeton University. The professor was tall and thin, and beside him was a massive vat of water with a drain at the bottom. He pulled the plug and asked his students: Will the water drain clockwise or counter-clockwise?

“You could’ve just given a lecture on centripetal force and gravity without bothering to fill up this 200 litre vat of water,” says Robert Bunning, one of Peeble’s former students. “The most impressive thing was he was making an effort to bring physics to life. He thought it was a beautiful subject.”

Winnipeg-born physicist wins Nobel Prize: 'I like looking at the world around us'Back to video

On Tuesday, Peebles, 84, won the Nobel Prize in physics, sharing the $1.2 million award with Swiss scientists Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz for revealing the wonder of the evolution of the universe and discovering planets orbiting distant suns.

By studying the earliest moments after the birth of the universe, Peebles developed a theoretical framework for the evolution of the cosmos that led to the understanding of dark energy and dark matter — substances that can’t be observed by any scientific instruments but nonetheless make up 95 per cent of the universe.

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Canadian-born scientist James Peebles speaks to well-wishers after winning the 2019 Nobel Prize for Physics along with two others, at his home in Princeton, New Jersey, Oct. 8, 2019.Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Mayor and Queloz of the University of Geneva revolutionized astronomy, the Nobel Committee said, when in 1995 they announced the discovery of a large, gaseous world circling a star 50 light-years from our own sun — the first extrasolar planet found around a sun-like star. In the decades since, scientists have detected thousands more of these exoplanets, and astronomers now think our universe contains more planets than stars.

Peebles told news conferences Tuesday that while awards are “very much appreciated,” that’s not why young people should study science.“You should enter it for the love of the science,” he said. “You should enter science because you are fascinated by it. That’s what I did.”

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Born in St. Boniface before it became part of Winnipeg, Peebles completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Manitoba and said part of his childhood was spent building or taking apart thing such as the clocks in his family’s home.

“One of my earliest memories is throwing a tantrum because I wasn’t allowed to put together the coffee percolator,” he said. “I simply liked looking at the world around us.”

I owe a lot to the University of Manitoba

Colleagues describe him as both an intensive thinker and a warm person, who goes into his office on Saturdays, accompanies his wife on bird watching trips and often mentions growing up on the plains of Manitoba.

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“Here in Winnipeg and Manitoba, we certainly do claim him,” says Andrew Frey, an associate professor of physics at the University of Winnipeg.

Peebles is best known for his research on the “cosmic microwave background,” which is a remnant from the time the universe began. Frey describes it as “a direct imprint of the baby universe.”

He has honorary doctorates from a string of Canadian universities and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Order of Manitoba. He is also the author or co-author of five books, including “Physical Cosmology” and “Finding the Big Bang.” He said he has a sixth book coming out next year, which maps the history of cosmology from Albert Einstein to today.

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“I think I’ve met or known all the great living theoretical cosmologists, and he stands out,” says Lyman Page, a physics professor with an office next to Peebles’ at Princeton. “In his writing, he has such a global comprehension of physics and certainly of cosmology that he can make sweeping, broad, deep and correct statements.”

Canadian-born scientist James Peebles exits after being presented the 2019 Nobel Prize for Physics. “I suppose the aura of the Nobel is such that my life will change, but I don’t think I’m going to let it change much.”Eduardo Munoz/Reuters

Peebles’ office is full of theses, books and plants, says Page, and he goes to group lunches with students in his department on Fridays.

Among students and faculty at the University of Manitoba, more than a hundred people gathered in a student lounge on Tuesday to watch a live-streamed celebration from Princeton.

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“He’s known to be a big thinker,” says Christopher O’Dea, a physics professor at the University of Manitoba, “leading people to where the big questions are.”

Peebles has been retired for 20 years, but he says he has continued to research and teach at a “relaxed rate” because he enjoys it.

“Life will go on,” he said in a phone interview between media events. “I suppose the aura of the Nobel is such that my life will change, but I don’t think I’m going to let it change much.

“You understand, I’m used to a quiet life.”

He will receive half the prize while Mayor and Queloz will share the rest. Peebles said he plans to give some of the money to charity and his family. “I owe a lot to the University of Manitoba and a chunk will go to it.”

As for the whirlpool question from Peebles’ lecture in 1971: since Princeton is in the northern hemisphere, if the professor had a large enough vat, the water would drain clockwise.

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